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Dear
Lion,
 As I write you this message, I am filled with a great sense of
pride for all that we have accomplished together over the last 12 months.
It is also bittersweet for me that this is my final message to you as
Chairperson of our great Foundation.
Just last week I visited our Lions in Haiti and our disaster relief projects.
Although there have been challenges, they remain committed for as long as
it takes. You can read more about all of our disaster relief efforts in
this message.
We give hope with active, reliable and needed cooperationfollowing
disasters to people around the world. Every day presents a new challenge,
yet every day Lions offer the start to a promising solution which is
returned every day with a happy smile of gratitude from those in need.
To reach even more people, we established four main priorities for our
Foundation this year. And I'm sohappy to say we have achieved each of
these.
To help with developing and implementing these goals, one of the
priorities was the creation of a Steering Committee. The committee is
comprised of Lions leaders from around the world, and Constitutional Area
is represented.
Our first goal was improving our communications flow. Just last month we
launched our new Web site in English, and it will
launch in languages at our International Convention.
I am convinced you will agree this is a huge advance toward meeting this
goal. This new site gives you more tools and resources to promote the
good work we Lions are doing. It also offers you many opportunities to
contact us at anytime. Your thoughts are important and help us to move
forward. Please visit www.lcif.org, if you haven't already.
 Lions Quest is a program that is particularly near and dear to my heart. More
than 12 million children have benefited from this life skills program.
And that's why reaching even more children was another priority. We held
trainings and created a How-to-Kit to help Lions' expansion efforts. Just
last month Indonesia began this program. I'm happy to say it's now in six
new countries, for a total of 66 countries. At this time, there are more than 20 countries ready to start this
program-the only world program focused on social and emotional education.
Another priority was activating our volunteer coordinator structure. To
strengthen Lions' engagement with LCIF, new fundraising goals were set,
with district and multiple district coordinators helping lead these efforts.We
created several new resources for our coordinators. I
enjoyed hosting several Webinars to provide updates to our coordinators
and to encourage them to work closely and effectively with our DG Teams. Most exciting is the fact that our
efforts are paying off. Donations for this year are up by US$10.5
million, or 33 percent! Thank you for your continued support and
dedication to helping LCIF continue to be the #1 NGO worldwide.
We have set a solid platform with international structuresto build upon
next year! I can assure you I will remain committed to our Foundation for
years to come, and I hope I can count on you to do the same.
With my cordial regards,
Eberhard J. Wirfs
Chairperson, Lions Clubs International Foundation
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SightFirst Awards Grants
US$4.26 million was awarded during the May SightFirst Advisory Committee
meeting. This includes grants to China to support elimination of blinding
trachoma, a nationwide low vision services project and a blindness
prevention program; a grant to India to construct and equip a Lions
opthalmology clinic; a grant to Kenya for refractive error services; and
a grant to the Philippines for inclusive education for children with
visual impairments. View the full list of recent grants.
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Rebuilding Lives
Following Disasters
We Lions have a special dedication to providing relief and rebuilding lives in
our communities for as long as it takes. In Haiti, we are rebuilding
schools and a nurses training program, as well as houses. Most recently,
we committed US$410,000 to help the Southern United States. And we continue to
receive donations for Japan, with more than US$16 million being
mobilized. Relief efforts elsewhere also remain ongoing. All of these
projects would not be possible without the generous
support of our international family of Lions. And other
organizations are taking note of our relief efforts. Bausch +Lomb donated
US$100,000 for Japan and is encouring their employees to also do so by
matching donations. The Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth
(Texas, USA) also contributed US$100,000 for Japan.
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Pediatric Cataract
Initiative (PCI) Awards Grant
Bausch + Lomb and LCIF awarded the Tianjin Eye Hospital a US$150,000 grant to finance a specialized,
pediatric cataract training initiative. The grant is made possible
through funding from Bausch + Lomb, and the grant will be used for
training and education, equipment, and screenings. Earlier this year, PCI
also issued two $50,000 research grants.
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New Web Site
Some features of our new Web site includes stories of individuals, partners and
donors impacted by the Foundation's work; a share feature on every page
to be able to email or post on personal social media sites; an online MJF application; improved method
for online donations; and a special section for you, our Lions members
and LCIF coordinators. The site will launch in all languages on July 8.
The address remains the same- www.lcif.org.
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